Allowing Birth Moms to Choose the Type of Adoption whether Closed Adoption or Open Adoptions

Allowing Birth Moms to Choose the Type of Adoption whether Closed Adoption or Open Adoptions

Today’s birth moms are different. They now can actively choose whether they would like to have a part, small as it may be, in the growth and development of her child.

Making that fateful decision to continue with an unplanned pregnancy takes more than just sheer determination and courage. While today’s society is becoming more open about teenage pregnancies or pregnancies out of wedlock, there are still those who prefer to conceal their pregnancies from their respective families. In a society that is predicated on conforming to acceptable social norms, having a child when society or your family doesn’t expect you to is clearly something that requires guts to hurdle.

Yet, the decision to go ahead with the pregnancy is proof enough of the courage and humanity these mothers-to-be. Instead of aborting the child like some others, they would prefer to bring the child into this world, and hopefully place the child for adoption. These mothers know that they might not be able to provide their child with the future they want for them. Whereas some would rather terminate their pregnancy even before the embryo becomes a viable fetus, these determined mothers have chosen to carry on with the pregnancy in the hope of creating a brighter future for the little soul in their womb.

Choice. And hope.

These two are what is keeping birth mothers from committing a graver wrong. While experts may debate about the age of viability of life, conception literally begins with fertilization of the female ovum. And no one can dispute that.

Mothers have chosen to bring their child into this world. They hope that their families or even society itself will be more forgiving and understanding by the time they give birth. If in case they still don’t, then birth moms have the choice to seek a better future for their child.

In the past, closed adoptions were the norm. A mother goes somewhere far to give birth and return home, leaving the infant in the care of the doctor who delivered the baby or a child-placing agency that would then look for an adoptive family for the child. The birth mom never gets the chance to see her child again, nor the adoptive child his mom, nor the adoptive family their adoptive child’s mom. In effect, there clearly is no relationship between the adoptive life of the child and his birth mom.

Today’s birth moms are different. They now can actively choose whether they would like to have a part, small as it may be, in the growth and development of her child. Many experts believe that children who know they are adopted and have met their biological parents as well as get to know the reasons for the adoption tend to have a better understanding of the circumstances. As such, they tend to mature into more responsible and more emotionally stable adults compared to those who never met their birth moms. There is simply no closure for these children. As they grow, they will always be asking why their birth moms have abandoned them. Likewise, birth moms will always be asking themselves whether they made the right decision.

Birth moms who stay in contact with their children and their respective adoptive families are better able to cope with their decision. Seeing that their child is being cared for in a loving adoptive family can sometimes serve as vindication for their decision to place their children for adoption.

Birth moms already made the choice to continue with the pregnancy. The last thing society can do is to bar her from making the decision whether to choose an open type of adoption or a closed one.